Frost School of Music stars shine bright at the 60th GRAMMY Awards held on January 28, 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This year, members of The Recording Academy recognized several Frost School of Music musicians with one win and six nominations in multiple categories.
Winning a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album was saxophonist Andy Snitzer, B.M. ‘84, for Prototype with The Jeff Lorber Fusion. Snitzer is an acclaimed contemporary solo performer, composer and producer, who traveled for over a decade as soloist and horn anchor with Paul Simon.
Australian-born jazz saxophonist Troy Roberts, M.M. ‘07, member of Joey DeFrancesco + The People, received a Best Jazz Instrumental Album nomination for Freedom. Roberts has seven self-released albums with Nu-Jive, and is heard on Sammy Figueroa’s The Magician, which earned a 2011 Grammy nomination.
Drummer Paul Deakin, B.M. ‘83, co-founder of country music group The Mavericks, was nominated for Brand New Day in the Best Americana Album category. The band won a Grammy in 1995 for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Songwriter and jazz guitarist Raul Midón, B.M. ‘90, who has been blind since birth, was nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Bad Ass and Blind, his sixth studio album. Midón played with the 2016 Monterey Jazz Festival tour and has collaborated with such artists as Bill Withers, Snoop Dogg, Queen Latifah, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, and Christina Aguilera.
Trumpeter Alex Norris, D.M.A. ’07, of the Alan Ferber Big Band, received a nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Jigsaw. Norris is an accomplished musician and jazz educator with two CD releases of his own and is a published composer with 3-2 Music.
Frost School of Music Dean Shelly Berg received his fifth Grammy nomination for his arrangement of I Loves You Porgy / There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York from the album Rendezvous, in the Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals category. The recording pairs singers Clint Holmes and Dee Dee Bridgewater with The Count Basie Orchestra. Berg shared arranger credit with Gordon Goodwin, Gregg Field, and Holmes.
In the same category, multi-Grammy nominee and Emmy Award-winning composer Joel McNeely, BM ’82, was nominated for the song “I Like Myself” on Seth MacFarlane’s album In Full Swing. McNeely was also co-producer for the project, which was nominated in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category.
